It’s the most wonderful time of the year—where I share with you the books I’ve delighted this year. My Goodreads goal was 100 books, and I made it to 103. I definitely won’t be attempting this goal again anytime soon . I really want to read longer books next year, but this was a cool challenge (I did manage to read 2 books that were over a thousand pages). I’m not a book blogger or on booktube where people read 150+ books each year, but I really wanted to see how much I could read and I’m glad I managed to do it in a year of grad school (commuting was key!).
A New Song by Jan Karon
“Let the peace of this place surround you as you sit or kneel quietly. Let the hurry and worry of your life fall away. You are God’s child. He loves you and cares for you, and is here with you now and always. Speak to Him thoughtfully, give yourself time for Him to bring things to mind.”
Jan Karon is the L.M. Montgomery of my adulthood. She created this wonderful place of Mitford and it’s full of these delightful characters. What I loved about this book is that Karon took a chance and left the world of Mitford to allow her main characters to grow and experience a different kind of life. This book, however, felt the same as the rest of the series—it’s funny, poignant, and brings us back to God. Wish I knew a Father Timothy in my own life.
Maps of our Spectacular Bodies by Maddie Mortimer
“She felt as if she were drinking sacramental wine that had skipped the blessing, chewing on bread stolen from the altar, and now the ritual felt hollowed out, the rite quite empty.”
This was Maddie Mortimer’s debut and boy, it was incredible. It was sensual and unique. Poetic and emotional. It’s about the grief of a body failing you, but it’s more than that. It’s about reconciling with the past and the people in it who have made wounds. It’s about longing, both for a better story and for people to love you the way you wished you wanted. Making the illness a character is a unique choice for this novel but one that wasn’t super out of place. I recommended this to a friend, and she enjoyed it!
Forgiving God by Hilary Yancey
“Perhaps this is the grief that is rarely spoken: the grief of no longer having time to suspend in midair above your life, waiting on its unfolding. The grief of descending, again and again, into the thick incomprehensible earth of your life and still breathing.”
After rummaging through Hilary’s blog, I found out she wrote her own book. (Her husband’s book was featured on last year’s list.) This book was real and raw and honest about how heartbreaking reality can be and how that intertwines with a broken faith. I love the title—because sometimes we have to do that. We have to forgive a God who allows us a free will at a cost that is almost unbearable to us. Hilary is a lyricist and storyteller in her own right. And of course, as a Christian, I love stories about how God speaks to his people. Hilary is someone who has walked through the darkness and she guides us closer to the light.
In this House of Brede by Rumer Godden
“Vocations can come to the most unlikely people in the most unlikely circumstances and there’s no resisting. It’s as if God put a finger and said, ‘You.'”
This book, I can’t believe, I read this book this year! This book was phenomenal. Actually incredible. I love books about lives I will never live, and this book had the blessing of being about cloistered nuns and the storytelling was *chef’s kiss*. Godden’s ability to interweave multiple conversations of dialogue into one conversation was mind blowing. Though the ending was bittersweet, I was enthralled with this read!
Be here to love me at the end of the world by Sasha Fletcher
“All around them are people, sitting, standing, drinking, someone is getting empanadas, then everyone is getting empanadas. The snow is falling all around. Do you know what I’m talking about? It’s the end of the world. Not now, I mean, picture this: It’s the end of the world. How much of your life are you happy with?”
This book is definitely a weird one. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book with a narrator that also was talking directly to the audience and yet interjects his own opinions into the piece, but is also his own character in the story. It’s funny and it’s bizarre and it’s all over the place, but maybe that’s how it’ll be when the world ends. I love books placed in New York City (the exception is when it paints New York as for the lavishly rich). I love books placed in New York City, when they talk about Brooklyn and Queens. The epicenter of New York City isn’t Manhattan but your TV screen won’t let you know that reality. If you’re looking for a new style of fiction, this is definitely the one to pick up!
You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith
“In all these places, I loved that person. I loved him. Where does that go? The love is in all of these places—haunting?—and in none of them. The love is everywhere and nowhere.”
I didn’t intend to read books about divorce this year, but I did. I will never again look at pine cones the same. This book is about the truth that one day your worst nightmare could become real, and it’s all about the aftermath. Smith survives her worst nightmare and she brings you in on it. I love the rawness of this kind of writing. You can tell she stayed up late pacing back and forth wondering about some of these moments. Being a writer is a hard thing because you’re always trying to make sense of the story. The thing about life is that it’s the one story you can’t have control. Hindsight is where you brush over your battle scars and wonder if you were ever made for war. Smith’s book is not for the faint of heart, but it is for the angry, the hurting, the it’s-time-to-build-my-life-again-but-I-don’t-know-how.
Kristin Lavransdatter by sigrid undset
“God will find you,” said the priest quietly. “Stay calm and do not flee from Him who has been seeking you before you even existed in your mother’s womb.”
I picked up this book randomly. I was having a nun hangover, and so, I was looking for books with nuns in them and stumbled upon this. There isn’t a huge section of nuns in this book, so I’m not spoiling you. Kristin Lavransdatter is a cautionary tale—it’s what happens when you take a wrong turn, marry the wrong man. And some might say, there’s no such thing, everything happens for a reason. But my takeaway from this story is that there is fruit to our choices: good and bad. The one thing about our choices is that we have to live with them.
War and Peace by leo tolstoy
“There was a radiance of something in her beautiful, luminous eyes. Something like joy, an exalted joy, apart from the sorrows and joys of this world, flooded the bitter grief she felt within her.”
I won’t say much on Tolstoy as I did a whole post on this book earlier this year, but I was surprised by how much I love Marya, her sacrificial nature and her beauty shining in her faith. War and Peace is a soap opera in book form, and it is worth its length.
Alienated America by timothy p. carney
“The early primary results show that Trump Country is made up of the places where civil society has eroded the most. Trump’s cities and towns and counties are the ones where community bonds are the weakest.”
If you ever wondered about why there’s been so much division culminating in the 2016 election, and why we can’t get along as neighbors in our nation, this is the book for you. Alienated America is the one nonfiction book on this list that’s not a memoir. I don’t usually enjoy nonfiction. It tends to lean dry and emphasize facts over storytelling, but this one really gave you facts about different communities in the U.S. and why have or haven’t thrived. I believe it’s worth reading if you’re interested in learning more about the U.S., but particularly what makes a strong community.
Hannah Coulter by wendell berry
“You mustn’t wish for another life. You mustn’t want to be somebody else. What you must do is this: Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks. I am not all the way capable of so much, but those are the right instructions.”
This year was my year to read Wendell Berry. While I did enjoy the short stories he’s written, this longer novel was very well done. Port William is very much in the same realm as Mitford and Avonlea, small towns that symbolize values of community, working hard, and being a good neighbor. Hannah Coulter shows the changes technology has swept into our lives, often without considering the cost of our families’ ways of living and traditions. It’s a rich story, and I love the way it’s told—like telling a story to a friend and reflecting on all the feelings hindsight brings. Berry is definitely a writer to read!
The Woman from Lydia by angela hunt
“I wore the traditional woven tunic belted with the knot of Hercules. My handmaid carefully arranged my hair and covered it with the traditional orange veil, dyed to match my shoes. It was the perfect Roman wedding.”
I’ve been really lucky to realize that I actually do like history—biblical history. Hunt’s story takes place after Christianity begins to spread but it’s very early on. I love the historical details of how people worked together, the way they traveled to different cities, the different gods of different cultures. It’s a fascinating world detailed in such an incredible way. If you’re a Christian wanting to learn more about the New Testament life, particularly after Acts, Hunt’s book is one to add to your TBR.
I will share with you soon my reflections on 2023!
Signing off,
Gigi
Studying Life with Gigi 